Densification is the most important trend in mobile network deployment, and few markets are densifying with such dramatic impact as India. With the prospect of subscriber numbers hitting one billion before the end of the decade, operators have no choice but to add capacity and coverage as rapidly and cost-effectively as they can. This is […]

The timing couldn’t be better for Small Cell Forum to hold its first major event in India. The global spotlight is on this huge market, as it gears up for its first 5G auctions, and as dense mobile networks take a central role in national wireless broadband plans. Like mobile operators round the world, those […]

India is now the second largest smartphone market in the world, overtaking the US, and to support that growth, its operators are turning their network strategies and business models inside-out, and focusing heavily on densification. Yet on the industry events circuit, the Indian sub-continent is often included in general ‘Asia-Pacific’ regional conferences, even though its […]

The success of the mobile industry has been built on global standards, and these will be even more vital to the economics of 5G because of the huge numbers of elements involved. Many millions of small cells, and billions of devices, will need to interoperate to support rising mobile usage and a variety of new […]

Densification may be an unwieldy and overused word, but it lies at the heart of many mobile operators’ plans to upgrade their networks and services over the next few years. It’s therefore the topic at the heart of Small Cell Forum’s first ever Partners’ Day, in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 26. Small cells are central […]

Ahead of our summer meeting in Atlanta later this month, Chair David Orloff explains why this is a plenary with a difference. It’s only a few weeks until our summer plenary meeting in Atlanta on 26-27 July, and I’m particularly excited about this one. This will be a plenary with a difference, because it will […]

The issues of small cell siting are grabbing attention all the way up to the White House. President Donald Trump received a briefing from mobile operator CEOs last week, and was told that the complexities of getting site approval could be a barrier to US dreams of 5G leadership. He pledged to support measures to […]

The theme of MWC Shanghai 2017 is the Human Element, recognizing the needs of people and communities alongside the tech preoccupations that often dominate industry narrative. In yesterday’s keynote, GSMA Chair Sunil Bharti Mittal went as far as to say that, without the support of the mobile industry, the UN has little chance meeting its […]

MWC Shanghai opened with the usual flares, beats and robotic dancers, but as always with China it’s the eye watering numbers that stick in the memory. At a time when GSMA is reporting that in June 2017 the mobile industry signed up its 5 billionth unique subscriber, it’s sobering to note that a fifth of […]